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28 Aug 2010 13:47

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Politics: Glenn Beck did it: “Restoring Honor” is filled to the brim with people

  • Something beyond imagination is happening. America today begins to turn back to God. For too long, this country has wandered in darkness.
  • Glenn Beck • During a speech he made at the Restoring Honor thang, which has drawn a small handful of people. Beyond our personal issues with the quote, mainly because we personally prefer nonreligious Humanism, the scope of what Beck has put together is pretty impressive. “We are humbled that you are here,” he said. “The reflecting pool holds about 200,000 people. This field back here holds about 250- to 300,000 people. They are not only full here, they’re full in that field, they’re full behind me, and they are now across the street approaching the Washington Monument.” So yeah, this thing was kind of a hit. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 19 Comments • Permalink

28 Aug 2010 13:30

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World: Thanks computers! Chinese, Japanese youths forget how to write

  • goodTechnology has made it easier than ever for Chinese and Japanese youths to use their language.
  • bad As a result though, many of them no longer know how to actually write it out by hand. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Aug 2010 12:30

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Politics: Twitter’s taking in Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally



Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Aug 2010 12:22

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Politics: The Koch Brothers and Americans for Prosperity: Who are they?

  • Who are the Koch brothers? In what has to be one of the best senses of timing ever, The New Yorker just put up a lengthy article about Charles and David Koch, multi-billionaires, the owners of Koch Industries, and two long-time libertarian leaners who back the Americans for Prosperity organization, which has been something of a root backer of the Modern Tea Party movement. And thanks to a just-filed IRS complaint regarding the ad series above, we’ll be hearing more about the Koch Brothers in the next couple of weeks.
  • longtime libertariansThe brothers have deep roots in the libertarian movement, and David Koch actually ran for vice-president 30 years ago. The brothers found the process wasteful, and decided to work behind the scenes instead. So they ended up underwriting the libertarian movement. Then the Tea Party came along.
  • Very hands-offUnlike other big financial backers of political leaders like George Soros, they go out of their way to be hands-off from what their money does, and instead let the money do the work. While they’re very active in the philanthropy community, their Americans for Prosperity work does not bear their signature.
  • Tax-exempt statusAmericans for Prosperity is in a bit of trouble right now because they’ve been running ads that are inherently political in possible violation of their tax-exempt status, which says their work has to be nonpartisan. The organization says that their work is protected by the first amendment. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

28 Aug 2010 11:48

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U.S.: “Ground Zero Mosque”: Park51 developers could get public financing

  • If it turns out to be financially feasible and if they can demonstrate an ability to pay off the bonds and comply with the laws concerning tax-exempt financing, we’d certainly consider it.
  • Scott Sieber, a spokesperson for NYC city comptroller John Liu • On the possibility that the Park51 site will receive tax-free financing. Backing from Liu, a Democrat who supports the “Ground Zero Mosque” project, could be just what the project needs. The developers are trying to raise $70 million in tax-exempt debt for the project, which has mostly been troubled with overwraught drama thus far. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Aug 2010 11:34

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Culture: Paris Hilton arrested for completely unsurprising reasons

  • Paris Hilton arrested for cocaine usage? Get out. For some reason, Twitter is totally freaking out over this story, which we totally don’t understand. Hilton was in Vegas last night when the vehicle she was in got pulled over. Cops smelled pot and found coke on Hilton. Considering her reputation, it’s not surprising. We’re not surprised. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Aug 2010 23:12

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Tech: Will Cheezburger Network’s Ben Huh tweeted Reddit offer work?

Condé Nast, I’m publicly offering to buy Reddit.: This was an email I sent to one of our sites, The Daily What: Hi… http://bit.ly/9keWv1Sat Aug 28 00:44:56 via twitterfeedbenhuh
benhuh

  • What happened? Reddit wanted to accept ads in favor of California’s pot-legalizing Prop. 19, which owner Condé Nast said was a big no-no. So they offered to run the ads for free.
  • A tweeted offer Not long after, Cheezburger Network CEO Ben Huh made an unsolicited offer to buy the business from Condé Nast. And he tweeted it. That’s postmodern.
  • Why that may be bad Ben Huh severely underpays his workers for work that requires a college education. We already covered it in detail. We don’t need to say anything else. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

27 Aug 2010 22:52

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Politics: DC bloggers to Glenn Beck rallygoers: Visit the freaking city!

  • Local Bloggers don’t really care about the rally. They see so many of them that they’re pretty much old hat at this point. In fact, sites like DCist or We Love DC didn’t even give tomorrow’s Glenn Beck rally a second notice until this hilarious guide hit the popular consciousness, starting on those blogs and eventually making its way onto Rachel Maddow’s show. They neutered it and turned it into a PR opportunity. (Smart move.) As a DC-based blog, we would like to point out a couple of things: One, we just saw a couple using the Metro tonight who blocked the aisle on the train with a couple of hunting-camo lawn chairs. Two, the nice thing about DC is that it’s a diverse city, so you might want to consider hitting U Street and checking out a show at The Black Cat. Trust us. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Aug 2010 22:15

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Politics: Fidel Castro convinced Osama bin Laden is a U.S. spy

  • Who showed that he [Bin Laden] is indeed a CIA agent was WikiLeaks. It proved it with documents.
  • Former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro • Saying some crazy crap about Osama bin Laden, the CIA, George W. Bush and Wikileaks. We wish we could add more to this, but we simply can’t. It’s just too crazy. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Aug 2010 21:40

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Tech: Patent troll: Paul Allen is a jerk who hasn’t been relevant in 20 years

  • Why do patents exist? Apparently so a multi-billionaire can choose to be a jerk and sue the entire Internet over obvious ideas he isn’t even using. Paul Allen, who’s giving away most of his fortune to charity anyway, is the head of Interval Licensing, which appears to be a patent-trolling firm based around patents that an old company of his, Interval Research Corp., created in the ’90s but never used. Now he’s suing Google, Facebook, eBay, Apple, Yahoo, Netflix and Youtube over what seem to be obvious patents. Our patent system is pretty much the worst thing ever, it’s being used to screw people over on obvious technologies, and it’s getting worse. If you really thought these patents were so bad, Paul, why did you choose not to sue Microsoft, which you own a stake in, or Amazon? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink
 
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